Midnight Squad: The Grim (40 page)

           
Katy stepped back and looked up at me in anticipation.
“You don’t want to kill, and I can respect that. However, in this fight people
are going to die. It may be a lot of people. What I need to know is, are you
okay with the fact that we’re probably going to have a pretty large body
count.”

           
“If you can handle me not killing, then I’ll do my best.
You are all the only friends I’ve ever really had since my powers began
showing. Around here I’m not a freak that causes weird stuff to happen, and
breaks electronics. Around here, I’m the normal one. I can’t keep a cell phone,
and I have to buy a new Xbox every few weeks, but that doesn’t even raise an
eyebrow around here. I don’t want to lose that.”

           
“Before you came here people really gave you a lot of
shit didn’t they?”

           
“Grim, when my parents first realized I had powers they
thought I was possessed. They even had some whack job that called
himself
an exorcist try to cure me. All he really did was
throw water on me, stare at my boobs, and grab my ass when my parents weren’t
looking. They took me out of school, and refused to let me hang out with the
few friends I had left. Of course, by then it wasn’t as if I had many left.
Nobody wants to hang out with a girl that accidentally breaks all their
electronics. I’ve never even had a boyfriend. I had a date once, but my powers
flared up and I kept setting off every fire alarm, and car alarm in the area.
To make matters worse I kept setting off his cell phone. It was a disaster.
Then I come here, and I’m actually kind of the boring one. Danika goes apeshit
every full moon. Janine’s dead and have you noticed she smells like bar-b-que
when she gets emotional? The Jinn is bitchy, but she has so much power. Nobody
around here freaks out over the stuff I do because compared to her it’s normal.
Then there’s Penny. Don’t look at me like that. I know how much you like her.
I’m just saying that if you looked up strange in an encyclopedia, you’d find a
picture of Penny. Compared to them I’m actually boring and normal.

           
Then there was Elizabeth. She was kind of a type-A
personality and it was hard to get to know her, but she always took an interest
in whatever I did. DD was awesome. She was a big nerd. A real dorkus maximus if
you get my meaning. She was like the big sister I never had. She even
overlooked all the equipment I broke. Even Dr. Nowitski became like family.
Sure, she had kind of a creepy Nazi evil scientist vibe, but that was just my
first impression. Once you knew her better, she was almost grandmotherly, and
although she hated me fighting, she was super supportive of everything I did
away from the battlefield. They all made me feel special, but not freak
special. They appreciated me, and made me feel important. I still can’t believe
they betrayed us like this.”

           
“Kate, they didn’t all betray us. The
doctor…Gina…Elizabeth shot her.”

           
“What?” Katy’s eyes were wide in shock.

           
“Elizabeth shot her. Then they flew off.”

           
“Jeez Grim!
Couldn’t you have
said something earlier?”

           
“Well I have been kind of busy with the whole rescuing
ya’ll and stuff.”

           
“Ok, but you still could have said something. I feel like
such an asshole now. I kept thinking about how shitty they all were. Now you
tell me that Gina didn’t betray us. I feel kind of guilty now.”

           
“Gina is happy. She’s back with her husband and son. She
looked real happy, and I’m sure she isn’t holding a grudge.” As soon as I said
the words, I wished that I had them back. I was worried she’d think I was crazy,
but she just shrugged. “I hope you’re right. I’d like to think that she’s
happier somewhere.”

           
“Ok let’s get back. We don’t have much time. We have to
catch up to the other transport before we run out of time.”

           
“Grim? What are you planning?”

           
“Something bad.”

           
“Grim?”

           
“Kate, I have one goal tonight, and that is to survive to
see the sunrise. Ally’s mate knows we escaped. He isn’t the type to leave loose
ends. If we can make it to the city we can get other transportation. As soon as
Eisen realizes that ya’ll are safe he’s going to unleash six flavors of hell on
us. Of course, that’s only if he finds us. Katy…I might have to do some things
tonight that I’m not proud of.”

           
“Grim…Grim I don’t like that look in your eyes. What are
you going to do?”

           
“The less you know the more likely you’ll be able to look
yourself in the mirror in the morning. Once we reach the city you can hate me
for the things I’m about to do, but until then please just trust that I’m doing
the best I can.” I watched worry creep across her face, but she nodded and went
back to the vehicle.

           
After getting loaded back up we stomped the gas, and
rumbled along after the other transport. Thirty minutes later, we were right
behind the others. I finally had my plan. It wasn’t much, but I was confident
it would give us a chance to get to safety…at least for now. I turned around,
“Penny?”

           
“Yes?”

           
“I don’t know when you’ll have an opportunity for another
big meal. So go back there and eat your fill.”

           
“Really?”
Penny licked her lips
in excitement. I nodded and gestured for her to hurry back there. She slipped
back into the cargo area, and it wasn’t long before we heard the screams. I
looked around at the others. Danika was sniffing the air and seemed a little
excited. Katy bit her lower lip. If she wasn’t happy about this, then I could
only imagine how much she’d hate me later. I only hope that she
understands…eventually. Janine wasn’t nearly as patient. She rose up and headed
back towards the men when I growled, “Sit back down.”

           
“She’s going to kill them. Please stop this!” Janine was
practically begging.

           
“Penny needs to eat.”

           
“Grim no!
Please! I know she has
to feed, but we can’t just leave them to her! Grim! You’re better than this!”
There was desperation in every word.

           
Alhambra laughed, “Better? You don’t really know my
Joseph at all do you ghost?”

           
Janine’s eyes narrowed, “I’ve been in his head. I know
what he’s done.”

           
Katy’s eyes darted back and forth between them. “What are
you two talking about?”

           
The Jinn smiled an evil grin, “You know Joseph was mine
for three months. The things we did together.”

           
“I really don’t want to hear about your freaky sex life.”

           
“Bitchy witch…that’s not what I meant. Sure, we had sex,
but I’m talking about all the other fun we had. I tortured Joseph until I
realized that he wouldn’t ever really break, he only bent a little. So instead,
I began trying to grind the humanity out of him. First, I brought his men in
one at a time, and made them all a deal. If they’d help me torture their
Sergeant then I would give them one day of reprieve. Every single man in
Joseph’s squad took a turn making his life a living hell. The best part was
when I started making Joseph watch them torture each other. They were brutal,
but clumsy. They could beat someone unconscious, and break a few bones, but
they couldn’t really do anything…inspiring. Every day these men would beat
themselves bloody and raw. Every night I’d heal them back up so that they could
do it all again the next morning. I couldn’t break him, but watching the men
he’d promised to lead and protect destroy one another, that did something I
could never have done on my own. It still didn’t break him, not really. It just
twisted something inside him.”

           
I wanted to crawl into a corner and hide. I relived those
three months in seconds, the blood, the screams, the suffering. Somewhere deep
inside me I felt my stomach coiling like an icy serpent. My hand gripped the
hand rest. Whatever the Jinn said, it was better that they hear it now instead
of later. These are my friends, and they deserved the truth.

           
Alhambra kept steering the transport. Her words stayed
calm, but she clearly gloating, “So one day I bring one of the men in. Of
course, they think that they get to torture Joseph again. Imagine their
surprise when I chain them up and bring Joseph in. I make the same offer to
Joseph, and he refuses. Then the strangest thing happened. Can you guess what
it was?”

           
“You realized you were an evil, spiteful bitch, and
decided to change your ways.” Danika growled.

           
“No little dog. He refused my offer, and instead he made
me a counter offer. He agreed to entertain me as long as I promised to make his
suffering greater than his victims, I suppose deep down he enjoys firm
discipline. It used to get him so aroused. It was a strange deal, but one I
just couldn’t say no to. He tortured his own men. He tortured them until they
begged for death. He got in their heads, and systematically destroyed every one
of them. They suffered in such amazing ways. Do you know what makes Joseph such
a good soldier? It isn’t his experience. It’s not how strong he is. He’s smart,
but certainly no genius. What
makes
him so good at
what he does is creativity, and his ruthlessness. It was like watching an
artist. The things he did to his own men. Within a week, his men killed
themselves to avoid any more of the suffering. Don’t get me wrong. I helped. I
offered suggestions, and even helped him carry out some of the more…unique
punishments, but he broke them. He drove them to suicide. I have never seen
someone with such a capacity for brutality, and I’ve been around a long time.”

           
Katy glared at me in shock. One tear slowly rolled down
her cheek. Janine hissed, “That’s not exactly how it was though was it.”

           
“What do you mean? That’s how I remember it.”

           
“Grim tortured them, but it was only to put an end to
their suffering. You wouldn’t let him kill them outright, and you kept healing
every injury they caused to each other. The only way you’d let them actually
die is if they were completely broken and didn’t care anymore. Grim did what he
had to.” Janine was fuming. The smell of smoke was filling our nostrils. She
turned to me, “Tell them Grim. I’ve seen your thoughts. I know how you felt
about it all.”

           
I took a deep breath. “I try not to think about it too
much. To be honest, sometimes…when I’m alone…I wonder about it myself. At
first, I could have told you that I didn’t want any of it, but near the end, it
got somewhat blurry. My men were like wild animals that had suffered so much
that the only kind thing I could do was to put them down. I made the deal with
her because I needed to learn how to break them so that I could put a stop to
it, and the only way to learn was if I let her do her absolute worst to me.
That was the plan, but Ally started the whole thing by making me feel things.
She actually forced me to feel pleasure at their suffering. As time went on I
couldn’t be sure which feelings were mine, and what were the emotions and
sensations that she forced through me. Near the end, I think I was getting some
kind of sick thrill out of it. I try and tell myself that the circumstances had
me so twisted up that I shouldn’t hold myself responsible for what I did, but
I’m not sure. When we finished with my men, I remember feeling sad. The problem
is that I’m not sure if I was sad because they died, or if I was sad because we
couldn’t play with them anymore. It didn’t really help when I finally escaped
and they stuck me in the asylum. They medicated me until I didn’t know which
way was up…not that my grip on reality was that great after my escape anyway.
Every single day they told me that the things I thought and felt weren’t real.
I spend three months getting tortured, and then the next three months they kept
telling me it was all my imagination. Do you know what I was doing when they
found me?”

           
Katy hung on my every word. Danika and Janine both were
speechless. I turned to Ally. She was gripping the steering wheel with a death
grip. It just wasn’t as much fun for her when I quit fighting. It made it
harder for her to push my buttons, and she didn’t like it. In fact, my
willingness to come clean made her angry. Her knuckles were white, and she held
the wheel in a death grip. Penny slipped back into the cabin of the vehicle,
“Your file said they found you in some little Texas town near the border of
Mexico. Something about you getting drunk with a goat?”

           
“I escaped the asylum and went into hiding. The only
person that I told anything to was my sister Niki, and even then, I’d only tell
her so much. When I first escaped, I started hitchhiking. I wasn’t worried
about where I’d go. My only concern was getting as far away as possible. For
the first month, I just scrambled. I’d catch rides when I could, and walk when
I couldn’t. I’d wake up in one state and go to bed in another. All the
medications they gave me had some…unpleasant side effects. It made catching
rides a lot more difficult. Once the meds were out of my system I could think
more clearly, and I finally had control over my bodily functions…I’ll spare you
the details. By then all I wanted to do was find somewhere to die.” I paused. I
felt a tear sliding down my cheek.